Cisco Live US 2018 Is Around The Corner

Summer time brings out the party animal inside of us. While we imaging spending time at the beach and sizzling under the sun, the IT industry plans on attending the Cisco Live 2018 conference.

In 2017, Cisco Live was held in Las Vegas. I showed my excitement last year leading up to the event. We even did a live podcast recording in the World of Solutions with experts from Cisco Advanced Services.

One of the most memorable moments for me at the event was meeting the Customer Appreciation Event performer, Bruno Mars, in person! For about 10 seconds!

Cisco Live 2018

A year later, I am very excited to be attending Cisco Live 2018 in Orlando, FL. This year the theme is Imagine Intuitive. In the previous year they announced The Network. Intuitive. Now we must imagine? I’d like to see where they are going with this.

It’s not too late to register for Cisco Live 2018: Register today for early bird pricing!

Why Imagine? What should we be imagining? Is there going to be a special release to allows the network to do more than intent? We’ll just have to wait and see.

What To Look Forward To

Sessions at Cisco Live 2018 are meant to educate and inspire. This year I am looking forward to learning more about location services. Is there still a need out there? What improvements have been made and how can we better utilize location based services? I’d like to see if it’s extending beyond retail.

Of course, Wi-Fi is what I’m passionate about. There are many sessions I’d like to attend. How does Cisco plan to extend the intuitive IT to Wi-Fi? How can we use programmability, automation, and AI with the wireless network?

With that said, here are some sessions I’m looking forward to:

Anatomy of real-time wireless analytics and troubleshooting using DNA Assurance/AIRsense

The Fun Side of Cisco Live 2018

Leading up to Cisco live will be pre-event contests. Cisco has always done a fabulous job interacting with the community before the event. There are going to be many ways to participate which you can find more info at the Social Media Hub https://www.ciscolive.com/us/activities/social-media-hub-contests.

The contests don’t end when Cisco Live starts. There are contests during the event as well such as the #CLUS Super Photo, Tweetup Retweet, Cape Contest, Best Remote Attendee, and the social Leaderboard.

Customer Appreciation Event at Universal Studios

Education and inspiration is great, no doubt about it. But what I am most excited for is the Customer Appreciation Event. This is the biggest party Cisco Live has ever thrown. For 2018, Cisco will be reserving the entire Universal Studios theme park! On Wednesday, June 13, 2018 from 7:30pm to 11:30pm is when Cisco Live lets loose.

There will be food, drinks, rides, and a multi-artist music lineup. Yep, that’s right, there’s more than one performer!

While at Universal Studios, attendees will have unlimited access to rides such as Transformers, Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts, Revenge of the Mummy, and Despicable Me Minion Mayhem. There is also access to Universal’s Islands of Adventure starting at 6pm (non-exclusive).

Who wouldn’t be excited about this?

Guest Speakers

The closing keynote will have guest speakers Dr. Michio Kaku and Amy Webb. The discussion appears to be centered around the future and is meant to inspire and provoke our imagination and exchange of ideas. The closing keynote has always meant to leave us inspired with ideas brewing.

Be Part of a Good Cause

Cisco is donating 500 laptops to NetAcad schools in Florida. But they need your help! Be part of something bigger and help build a Pi-Top onsite. It’s a laptop powered by a Raspberry Pi.

There will be 500 laptops available for assembly. Help out the future workforce and inspire them to do great things with technology!

Conclusion

Cisco Live 2018 is shaping up to be a spectacular event, as always. I look forward to learning more this year how I can use automation with wireless technologies. Getting together with friends, old and new, is always a wonderful experience. I hope to see you there!